A popular feature of cut and loop pile carpets is the presence of randomly dispersed small regions or "islands" of color throughout. Currently, this is accomplished by using space-dyed yarns in the tufting operation. "Space-dyeing" refers to the process of dyeing white dyeable yarns in such a way that the color varies along the length of the yarn. The use of space-dyed yarns permits more colors to be placed into a tufted carpet. Thus, such yarns are considered to be valuable styling yarns by designers.
Another popular trend in the carpet industry is the use of solution-dyed yarns, also known as producer-colored yarns, in lieu of dyed or dyeable yarns. Solution-dyed yarns provide the advantages of not requiring dyeing, and generally having greater inherent resistance to stains, particularly acid type stains.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,542,619 (Schwartz) discloses a yarn, and a process and apparatus for making it, for use in carpets with a space-dyed look. The yarn contains a core of multicolor bulked continuous filament yarns wrapped with two wrapping yarns. One of the wrapping yarns extends in the clockwise direction and the other wrapping yarn extends in the counterclockwise direction. As a consequence, for a given length of the resulting yarn, the length of the core is greater than the length of the wrapping yarns, and the core has a sinusoidal profile.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,042 (Maag et al.) discloses a wrapped staple spun yarn and a process and apparatus for making it. The wrapped staple spun yarn is useful for various uses, including carpets. The wrapped staple spun yarn contains a single sliver spun from staple fibers surrounded by a helical wrapping yarn to hold the staple spun yarn together without the need for twisting. The process disclosed for making such a yarn includes feeding a sliver to a set of drafting rolls which further orient the sliver and reduce the sliver diameter. The drafting rolls forward the sliver to a rotating hollow spindle which holds the wrapping yarn thereon. As the sliver passes through the hollow spindle, the wrapping yarn is wrapped around the sliver with the assistance of a false twist device.
It is believed advantageous to provide a carpet styling yarn which, when used in loop pile tufted carpets, affords at least equivalent styling opportunity as space-dyed yarns. It is believed to be a further advantage to have a carpet yarn which combines the advantages of solution-dyed yarns with the aesthetics of space-dyed yarns in carpet.